c使用inotify监控linux路径下文件变化

1. 简介：

Inotify 是一个 Linux 内核特性，它监控文件系统，并且及时向专门的应用程序发出相关的事件警告，比如删除、读、写和卸载操作等。您还可以跟踪活动的源头和目标等细节。

使用 inotify 很简单：创建一个文件描述符，附加一个或多个监视器（一个监视器 是一个路径和一组事件），然后使用 read() 方法从描述符获取事件信息。read() 并不会用光整个周期，它在事件发生之前是被阻塞的。

更好的是，因为 inotify 通过传统的文件描述符工作，您可以利用传统的 select() 系统调用来被动地监控监视器和许多其他输入源。两种方法 — 阻塞文件描述符和使用 select()— 都避免了繁忙轮询。

要使用 inotify，您必须具备一台带有 2.6.13 或更新内核的 Linux 机器（以前的 Linux 内核版本使用更低级的文件监控器 dnotify）。如果您不知道内核的版本，请转到 shell，输入 uname -a

2. 首先看一下inotify.h中定义的watch mask：

IN_ACCESS
The file was read from.

IN_MODIFY
The file was written to.

IN_ATTRIB
The file’s metadata (for example, the owner, permissions, or extended attributes) was changed.

IN_CLOSE_WRITE
The file was closed and had been open for writing.

IN_CLOSE_NOWRITE
The file was closed and had not been open for writing.

IN_OPEN
The file was opened.

IN_MOVED_FROM
A file was moved away from the watched directory.

IN_MOVED_TO
A file was moved into the watched directory.

IN_CREATE
A file was created in the watched directory.

IN_DELETE
A file was deleted from the watched directory.

IN_DELETE_SELF
The watched object itself was deleted.

IN_MOVE_SELF
The watched object itself was moved.

The following events are also defined, grouping two or more events into a single value:

IN_ALL_EVENTS
All legal events.

IN_CLOSE
All events related to closing (currently, both IN_CLOSE_WRITE and IN_CLOSE_NOWRITE).

IN_MOVE

All move-related events (currently, both IN_MOVED_FROM and IN_MOVED_TO).

有了以上的watch mask就可以从终端的输出清晰的得知文件进行了什么样的操作。

2. 上代码：

#include <stdio.h>  
#include <string.h>  
#include <stdlib.h>  
#include <sys/inotify.h>  
#include <unistd.h>  
 
#define EVENT_NUM 12  
 
char *event_str[EVENT_NUM] =
{
	"IN_ACCESS",
	"IN_MODIFY",
	"IN_ATTRIB",
	"IN_CLOSE_WRITE",
	"IN_CLOSE_NOWRITE",
	"IN_OPEN",
	"IN_MOVED_FROM",
	"IN_MOVED_TO",
	"IN_CREATE",
	"IN_DELETE",
	"IN_DELETE_SELF",
	"IN_MOVE_SELF"
};
 
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
	int fd;
	int wd;
	int len;
	int nread;
	char buf[BUFSIZ];
	struct inotify_event *event;
	int i;
 
	if (argc < 2)
	{
		fprintf(stderr, "%s path\n", argv[0]);
		return -1;
	}
 
	fd = inotify_init();
	if (fd < 0)
	{
		fprintf(stderr, "inotify_init failed\n");
		return -1;
	}
 
	wd = inotify_add_watch(fd, argv[1], IN_ALL_EVENTS);
	if (wd < 0)
	{
		fprintf(stderr, "inotify_add_watch %s failed\n", argv[1]);
		return -1;
	}
 
	buf[sizeof(buf) - 1] = 0;
	while ((len = read(fd, buf, sizeof(buf) - 1)) > 0)
	{
		nread = 0;
		while (len > 0)
		{
			event = (struct inotify_event *)&buf[nread];
			for (i = 0; i<EVENT_NUM; i++)
			{
				if ((event->mask >> i) & 1)
				{
					if (event->len > 0)
						fprintf(stdout, "%s --- %s\n", event->name, event_str[i]);
					else
						fprintf(stdout, "%s --- %s\n", " ", event_str[i]);
				}
			}
			nread = nread + sizeof(struct inotify_event) + event->len;
			len = len - sizeof(struct inotify_event) - event->len;
		}
	}
 
	return 0;
}

然后新建inotify.c文件，将代码粘贴进去中，终端使用如下命令编译测试:

gcc inotify.c -o ity

终端运行可执行文件ity：

$./ity //path to watch

然后可以复制该路径下Untitled Document文件到该路径Untitled Document（copy），可以看到终端输出如下，然后就可以对照watch mask查看下输出的意思了：